Miejska rewolta. Awangarda w zbiorach Muzeum Narodowego w Warszawie. Urban Revolt. Avant-Garde Art from the Collection of the National Museum in Warsaw, eds. Ewa Skolimowska, Anna Turowicz, graphic design Matosek Niezgoda, 216 pages with illustrations, The National Museum in Warsaw, Warsaw 2017, ISBN 978-83-7100-417-9

 

 

The catalogue presents a selection of the most valuable works on paper from the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw—drawings, prints, photograms and photomontage—made by Polish artists during the avant-garde interwar period. Supplementing the presentation is a collection of periodicals and books designed by some of the masters of modern typography.

 

In the wake of Poland’s regained independence in 1918, in an atmosphere of pervasive agitation, feverish enthusiasm and uncertainty about the future, avant-garde artists strove to create new art for a new society. With artistic life in the young state being concentrated in the main cities of Warsaw, Krakow, Lviv, Poznan and Lodz, the catalogue outlines the arising avant-garde communities as it recalls the artistic achievements of outstanding figures like Leon Chwistek, Tytus Czyżewski, Andrzej Pronaszko, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (Witkacy), Henryk Stażewski, Władysław Strzemiński and Marek Włodarski. It traces out a map of the relations between the artists and reviews the rise and development of avant-garde ideas, from Expressionism to Formism, through Constructivism and Surrealism.